The Fray: The Worst National Anthem

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Francis Scott offKey

ughh
ughh
ughh
ughh










The Fray performed at the NCAA Men's Basketball Final. This was such a terrible National Anthem...

I mean it needs to be mentioned with Roseanne and Lewis...

Here is why...


#1.  The chords!  They reharmonized the anthem, meaning they used different chord structure on top of the same melody... this isn't a problem and it is done often when someone is covering a song and wants to make it their own...  The problem... They are playing WRONG CHORDS!

World touring Rockstars playing WRONG CHORDS like they are a junior high marching band meeting on the first day of school.  Not just playing a wrong chord once but... the same wrong chord over and over again!  HORRIFYING whenever that happens in a live performance... when it happens on world wide TV on our nations national anthem... uhhhh  UNFORGIVABLE

Seriously!  How can a pro musician fail so terribly.  Someone shoot the acoustic guitar player.

#2   You don't "COVER" the national anthem.  It's the National Anthem not National POPSONG!!  You don't make that song your own... It is not your own!! It's the NATION'S!!

While I can appreciate trying new things... the anthem is never a place to do that.  There should always be a solemness that comes with that song. The meaning of that song is deep!!!  THE FLAG WAS STILL THERE!!  The Fray didn't convey the message of that song... They took a powerful unifying courageous message and backed it with weak, repetitive, insipid music.

I'll stop with those 2 reasons!!  If you haven't heard the performance give it a listen.
and CLICK HERE FOR MORE BAD LIVE PREFORMANCES!

• What do you think?
• What can we as musicians learn from this?